Thailand considers compulsory travel insurance for foreign visitors

The Thai Tourism and Sports Ministry plans to make compulsory measures
for all foreign tourists to have travel insurance before entering the
country because unpaid bills are putting a huge strain on cash-strapped
public hospitals.

Tourism and Sports Minister
Somsak Pureesrisak was cited by The Nation that the ministry was ready
to implement measures to cut down foreign tourists' unpaid medical bills
that cost the country more than 200 million THB (6.45 million USD)
annually.

This will first be applied to tourists who apply
for visa at Thai diplomatic missions overseas, in which each person is
required to buy a 500 THB insurance package.

However, the ministry has yet to decide whether this will apply to those who do not need a visa to enter the country.

Tourists
coming to Thailand on tour packages are also required to buy travel
insurance, which allows them to claim 1 million THB for death and up to
500,000 THB for injuries, said President of the Association of Domestic
Travel, Yuthachai Soonthronrattnavate.

According to the
ministry's data, up to 6.19 million tourists, or about 28 percent of the
total 22.35 million visitors, came to Thailand as part of a tour
package last year.

The country earned 984 billion THB in revenue
from tourism in 2012, and expects to earn as much as 2.2 trillion THB
from visitors in 2015.-VNA